Digital Orthophotography and Elevation Data

Digital orthophotography is digital aerial photography that is planimetrically correct: the images show objects on the ground in their true geographic positions. Measurements of distances, angles and areas can be taken directly from the orthophotos. Digital orthophotography is important reference and base data used with Geographic Information System (GIS) software (what is GIS?).

MRCOG also provides these files to New Mexico Resource Geographic Information System (RGIS) Program so that other GIS professionals can access this valuable data. RGIS is a cooperative program between the University of New Mexico and the New Mexico Information Technology Commission and serves as a digital data clearinghouse for geographic information for New Mexico.

2012 Regional Digital Orthophotography

MRCOG has coordinated with local, State and Federal partners to acquire new 6' resolution natural color digital orthophotography in Spring of 2012. This data will be available upon written request in the Fall of 2012.

2010 Regional Digital Orthophotography

New 2010 digital orthophotography is available upon written request from MRCOG. MRCOG managed the cooperatively funded project of 16 Federal, State, local, and tribal governments for the acquisition and production of 6" GSD natural color digital orthophotography for 2610 square miles in central New Mexico. The project includes the following cooperating entities: City of Albuquerque, Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority (AMAFCA), Bernalillo County, Kirtland Air Force Base, Village of Los Lunas, Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD), New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT), City of Rio Rancho, Sandia Pueblo, Sandia National Laboratories, Santa Ana Pueblo, Southern Sandoval County Arroyo Flood Control Authority (SSCAFCA), US Geological Survey, and Valencia County.

Imagery was acquired March-May 2010. Bohannan Huston, Inc. (BHI) was the contractor for this project.

Click here for a map showing coverage extent for the 2010 digital orthoimagery.

Click here to link to MRCOG 2010 digital orthophotography for download. Under Filter data by Theme, navigate to "Digital Orthophotography/2010 (Color RGB)/MRCOG (6-in)" where the "MRCOG 2010 Raster Virtual Mosaic-Entire Area" web service is available for the dataset. At this same location, the MRCOG 2010 Image Tile Index and individual ¼ square mile tiles are available for download.

USGS/USACE/MRCOG 2010 Regional LiDAR

Digital elevation data based on Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is available from the MRCOG. The USGS/USACE/MRCOG 2010 Regional LiDAR Project was a cooperatively funded project of the US Geological Survey (USGS), the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Albuquerque District, and the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG). The project acquired high resolution LiDAR data in Spring 2010 for an area of approximately 1233 square miles in Sandoval, Bernalillo and Valencia Counties, New Mexico. The Project focused on acquisition of 2-foot contour equivalent elevation data suitable for input into the National Elevation Dataset (NED) at 1/9 arc second resolution. Secondly, an area approximating the 500-year floodplain of the Rio Grande was identified for acquisition and processing for 1-foot contour equivalent terrain data. The data supports a variety of applications including land use planning, infrastructure development, environmental resource assessment, alternative energy suitability analyses, flood hazard analyses, floodplain mapping, hydrologic/hydraulic modeling, and geomorphic or vegetation studies.

Click here for a map showing coverage extent for the 2010 LiDAR project.

In the Spring of 2008 MRCOG acquired over 2200 square miles of natural color, high resolution (1/2 foot GSD) digital orthoimagery in portions of 5 counties (Sandoval, Bernalillo, Santa Fe , Torrance and Valencia). This was a cooperative project with 17 local, State and Federal agencies participating.

Project cooperators included: City of Albuquerque, Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo and Flood Control Authority, Town of Belen, Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, Bernalillo County, Town of Edgewood, Isleta Pueblo, Kirtland Air Force Base, Village of Los Lunas, Mid-Region Council of Governments, Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, City of Rio Rancho, Sandia Pueblo, Sandia National Laboratory, Santa Ana Pueblo, Santa Fe County, and US Geological Survey.

Imagery was acquired in late March and early April 2008. Bohannan Huston, Inc. (BHI) was the contractor for this project.

Click here for a map showing coverage extent for the 2008 digital orthoimagery.

Click here to link to MRCOG 2008 digital orthophotography for download. Under Filter data by Theme, navigate to "Digital Orthophotography/2008 Color (RGB)\MRCOG)08 (6in)" for the tile index and to "Digital Orthophotography/2008 Color (RGB)\MRCOG) (6in)" for data tiles to download.